- Ray Peterson
Ray T. Peterson (
April 23 1935 –January 25 2005 ) was an Americanpop music singer.Ray Peterson was born in
Denton, Texas on April 23, 1935. As a boy he had to overcomepolio . Blessed with a 4.5-octave singing voice, he embedded his voice to become the Golden Voice of Rock and Roll. Peterson moved toLos Angeles, California where he was signed byRCA Victor Records in 1957. He recorded several songs that were minor hits until "The Wonder of You " made it into the Billboard Top Thirty list (June 15, 1959). The song would later be recorded byElvis Presley with whom he became close friends.In 1960, Peterson created his own label with his manager Stan Shulman,
Dunes Records , enlisting the help of producerPhil Spector . [ [http://www.rockabillyhall.com/RayPeterson1.html Rockabilly HoF] ] Peterson scored a Top 10 hit with "Tell Laura I Love Her " [#7 on June 27, 1960] , and followed that success with "Corrina, Corrina" [#9 on Dec. 19, 1960; produced by Spector; cover of a 1931Red Nichols hit] and "I Could Have Loved You So Well ." His last charting hit was "Missing You" [#29 on June 29, 1961] . By the mid-1960s he had become something of a phenomenon on the west coast of theUnited States , appearing live in numerous rock concerts withPaul McCartney lookalike,Keith Allison .His performances at the
Sacramento Memorial Auditorium , produced byFred Vail , beginning in 1963 helped fuel a revival of "The Wonder of You " as well as launch his new relationship withMGM Records , an alliance that produced two albums, "The Very Best of Ray Peterson" featuring most of the Dunes singles, and "The Other Side of Ray Peterson", which included many of hisnightclub songs. He later moved toNashville, Tennessee and by the 1970s when the hit records stopped coming, Peterson became aBaptist Church minister and occasionally played theoldies music circuit.Ray Peterson died of
cancer in 2005 inSmyrna, Tennessee and was interred in the Roselawn Memorial Gardens cemetery inMurfreesboro, Tennessee .Discography
ingles
Notes, references
External links
* http://www.rockabillyhall.com/RayPeterson1.html
* http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/raypeterson.txt
* http://lpintop.tripod.com/jeffbarry/id21.html
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